For We, Four-Season Lovers

As 'winter' descended with a vengeance this weekconversations turned season-ward...ready or not, winter always comes! I hope/try to be a four-season lover both literally and metaphorically!For everything we love in seasons that never stay,each season holds so many unexpected and lovely surprisesif we keep our hearts, arms, ears and eyes open! Yesterday I lingered over this tray of autumn-gourds,aka, the Creator's creationsI was reluctant to trade them for more Christmas-flavored décor... ...but then, Christmas joy cheers autumn sorrow!though, subconsciously I am already preparing for the pangs, when the time comes of tucking away dried orange slices and cookie-cutter stars,(however, it feels like I just did that and here we are, hanging them once more!!!) For we, four-season loversOf green, gold, red and whiteOf constantly bowled overBy waves of sheer delightOf shamelessly confoundedBy annual buffetsOf creation unboundedTo enchant and amazeOf thought, agog with wonderOf hearts taken by stormAs God turns mortal thunderTo worship’s purest formOf love’s aleatoryHymn, from we, humbly awedAt fringes of the gloryAnd majesty of God For we, four-season loversThat grapple with heart-tiesTangled in fields of cloverAnd colors of sunriseAnd friendships, forged with flits ofPetalled and feathered thingsAnd all the lovely bits ofBeauty each season bringsFrom spring’s green-misted bowersTo summer’s butterfliesTo autumn’s tattered flowersTo winter’s wooly skiesWe find fresh exclamationsOf gladness to consoleFarewells. Joy heals abrasionsWhere love had left a hole For we, four-season loversImbibed with glints of timeAs thankfulness discoversLife’s commonplace sublimeTo startle us with laughterRather than vain lamentsAs God regales both rafterAnd deep, with excellenceHis goodness fills each seasonWith His marvelous waysTo kindle perfect reasonTo praise Him all our daysTo give Him more than merelyReligion’s austere nodBut rather worship dearlyOur four-season God © Janet Martin To give Him more than merelyReligion’s austere nodBut rather worship dearlyOur four-season God... Ps.147Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord.